1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to items of tooling for carrying out a chemical vapor infiltration of a material within a fibrous preform for the manufacture of composite parts. More particularly, the invention relates to a clamping tool comprising two plates for clamping a fibrous preform undergoing an infiltration process, said plates having ends overlapping from said fibrous preform, whereby said plates are held together with specified spacing therebetween determined by blocking elements provided in the region of said ends of said plates.
2. Prior art
When such a type of tool is used for the infiltration of a material within a fibrous preform, the infiltrating material forms a deposit throughout the surface of the tool, so creating an excess thickness that alters the dimensions of its constituent elements. It is therefore necessary, between each infiltration process, to machine at least a part of these elements in order to bring the critical clamping dimensions that determine the dimensions of the workpiece back to their nominal values.
This intermediate machining is required for each new utilization of the clamping tool and constitutes a substantial constraint, especially since the growing trend towards more and more complex workpieces and correspondingly complex tools makes this overhaul operation both difficult and expensive.